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Gifts: Red Talons
The Red Talons Gifts Spirits in service to or allied with a tribe's totem teach Tribal Gifts. Some tribes' Gifts haven't changed in centuries, while others (such as the Glass Walkers) regularly reinvent their relationship with the spirits. Learning a Gift from another tribe usually requires the Garou to be on good terms with at least one member of the tribe (generally a packmate) who can summon the appropriate spirit. Even then, the Garou must convince the spirit she is worthy of its blessings, and that she won't turn them against its tribal allies. Some Garou are extremely touchy about outsiders learning their tribal blessings, while others believe the practice strengthens the Garou Nation as a whole in its war against the Wyrm. The feral Red Talons hate humanity for what it has done to Gaia and their Kinfolk. Griffin's Gifts, geared toward the "red in tooth and claw" aspects of nature, suit the Talons' disposition. Rank 1 Beast Speech The werewolf may instinctively understand and communicate with any natural animals, from fish to mammals. She need only speak normally to be understood by animals, along with a touch of appropriate body language -- there is no need to bark like a dog. This Gift doesn't change animals' basic reactions or dispositions; most are still afraid of predators such as werewolves. Any animal spirit can teach this Gift. System: This Gift's effects are permanent. Eye of the Hunter Just as wolves may assess a herd of prey animals, this Gift enables the Garou to correctly determine the weakest and strongest member of any group she can see. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). If successful, then the Garou learns which members of a chosen group within sight are the strongest or weakest and which is the leader. If the Garou attacks the group after employing this Gift, she gains one extra attack die against only the weakest individual for the rest of the scene. Hidden Killer The Red Talons didn't survive for so long without learning ways to conceal themselves. This Gift allows a werewolf to leave behind no physical evidence that would betray her hand (or claws, or teeth) in a slaying. This Gift is taught by a snake-spirit. System: After a battle, the Garou must touch or lick once each corpse she slew. The player rolls Intelligence + Larceny (difficulty 7). If the roll succeeds, the wounds alter themselves so that they resemble stabbing or slashing injuries rather than bite or claw marks. Any peripheral damage (smashed furniture, for example) remains as it was, but all forensic evidence such as hair, saliva, or blood from the werewolf's body disappears from the scene. House Rule Substitute Survival in place of Larceny. Scent of Running Water The werewolf can mask her scent completely, making herself virtually impossible to track. A fox-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The difficulties of all rolls to track the Garou increase by two. This Gift's effects are permanent, though the Ragabash may temporarily suppress them at will (which may be necessary to blend in with wolf packs). Wolf at the Door This Gift induces a terrible dread of and respect for the wilderness, and it makes a human target afraid to tamper with it in any way. Any predator spirit can teach this Gift. System: The werewolf must make eye contact with the target, but can be in any form when she does so. The player then rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty equals the target's Willpower). The effects last for one day per success. During this time, the human must roll Willpower to leave his home, and he may not go near anything resembling a forest, tundra, swamp, or other untamed wilderness area without spending a Willpower point. If the human does leave his home, he is shaky and fearful until he returns, and his player loses three dice from all Mental and Social dice pools. Alternately, this Gift can affect a number of humans equal to his Rage at once (difficulty equals the highest Willpower in the group). In this case, rather than making eye contact, the humans must hear the werewolf howl in Lupus form. This Gift can be used on Kinfolk, mages, ghouls, and other "supernatural" humans, but the difficulty increases by two. Rank 2 Beastmind The werewolf can reduce the mental faculties of his victim to that of an animal for a time. The victim doesn't necessarily become less intelligent, but human thinking (logic, complex tool use, language, and the like) becomes impossible. An avatar of Griffin teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy against a difficulty equal to the target's Willpower. The effects last for one minute per success, during which the target behaves like a wild animal. If a point of Rage is spent when directing this Gift at an ordinary human target, its effects last for one day per success. Pulse of the Prey If the werewolf knows anything about her prey -- even a nickname, initials, or crude description -- she can track it as fast as she can travel. This unerring sense of direction works anywhere, and is as useful for tracking spirits through the Deep Umbra as Pentex executives through Baltimore. A wolf- or dog-spirit teaches this Gift. System: No roll is required unless the target is actively hiding, in which case the player rolls Perception + Enigmas against a difficulty of the target's Wits + Stealth. If the target is a spirit, the difficulty is the spirit's Gnosis. Howls in the Night The werewolf sends a full-throated howl shivering into the night sky, evoking primal terror in Gaia's enemies. Creatures of the Wyrm who hear the howl find themselves troubled and unable to rest easily while their enemies are on the prowl. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). Creatures of the Wyrm who hear the howl will be jolted awake if asleep, and rendered unable to sleep for the next (successes x 3) hours. Shadow of the Impergium The Red Talon becomes the embodiment of all of humanity's primal fears of the wolf, carrying a heavy miasma of ancient terror about her. A fear-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The werewolf inflicts the Delirium in Hispo form, though observers are considered to be at +2 Willpower when judging their reaction. Anyone who succumbs to the Delirium because of seeing the werewolf in Crinos form is considered to have a Willpower five points lower than their true rating (minimum 1) for the purposes of determining reaction. This Gift's effects are permanent, though they can be suppressed for a scene if desired. Rank 3 Elemental Favor By begging, threatening or cajoling an urban elemental, a werewolf can convince the spirit to do her a favor such as manipulating or even destroying its earthly shell. Thus, a glass sheet might explode at the Garou's foes, an unlocked door might refuse to open, or a car's brakes might fail. An urban elemental teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). The Storyteller determines the precise effects. Render Down The Talon can destroy any man-made substance. Plastics, alloys, and other materials not found in nature disintegrate with just a touch. Lawn chairs dissolve into oily puddles and steel melts into iron and carbon. A cockroach-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The character must touch the material; only materials that are not naturally occurring are viable targets. For instance, a wooden table would be unaffected, whereas a plastic table would melt to the ground. The player makes a Rage roll (difficulty 7); each success reduces twenty pounds of the target material to its base components. Territory The Red Talon with this Gift doesn't need to patrol his hunting ground to know what transpires there. With but a moment of concentration, he may extend his senses to any area he has marked. This Gift is taught by a wolf-spirit. System: The Red Talon must first mark one or more areas with his own urine. A Talon may have a number of marked locations equal to his Gnosis (and doesn't have to establish such a mark in every place that he urinates). Thereafter, the player may roll Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) to extend the Talon's senses to that location. The character can sense the area as though standing in the same place he was in when he marked the area originally. The scent marks last for one week per dot of Gnosis the character possesses (for wilderness) or one day per dot of Gnosis (for urban environments). Trackless Waste The Talon calls upon the spirits of the wilderness to mislead and confuse any who invade her home. Humans and other travelers are confounded by this Gift, with even skilled survivalists and hikers soon becoming hopelessly lost. Even werewolves are not wholly immune to its effects. Any wilderness spirit can teach this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Primal-Urge (difficulty 6). The Gift affects up to a two-mile (3.2 km) radius per success. Humans automatically fail at all attempts to navigate such an afflicted wilderness. Other werewolves can roll Perception + Primal-Urge; if they score more successes than the Talon, they are able to navigate normally. Those led by the Talon herself through the domain remain unaffected. This Gift lasts until the sun next rises. Rank 4 Gorge Wolves will eat as much as possible when food is available, to carry them through the lean times ahead. Who knows when their next meal will arrive? With this Gift, a Red Talon can similarly gorge on Rage, Gnosis, or Willpower. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: Upon learning this Gift, the player chooses which trait (Rage, Gnosis, or Willpower) the character can store. Thereafter, the character can hold three more points in the appropriate Trait than her permanent rating. These extra points must be regained as normal, and they don't add extra dice to rolls involving the Trait in question. To amplify more than one Trait, the character must learn the Gift (i.e., pay the experience cost) again. Howl of Death A Talon with this Gift may infuse her howl with Rage and pain, causing grievous wounds to one target. The werewolf must be able to see her target clearly, and the target must be able to hear the howl. Only the intended target is affected by the Gift, though anyone else who hears it is disquieted and frightened. A pain-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 6). Each success inflicts one level of lethal damage, which the target may soak if he is able. The damage manifests as massive internal damage, as the target's innards suddenly rupture. Quicksand The Garou turns the ground into a sticky morass that catches foes and prevents them from escaping or even walking. An earth elemental teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). Success changes the ground into a quicksand-like bog for a 10-foot (3 m) radius; each additional success extends the radius of the morass an additional 10 feet (3 m). Anyone trying to move through it, save for the Garou and her pack, moves at half walking speed, and may not execute combat maneuvers that require overland movement. Additionally, all other combat maneuvers take a +1 difficulty penalty. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. Rank 5 Curse of the Lycaon The Red Talon can force the wolf-skin onto another. If the target is a werewolf, he becomes trapped in Lupus form for the rest of the scene. If the target is a human or animal, it becomes a normal wolf forever. This Gift is taught by a wolf-spirit. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of the target's Willpower). Gaia’s Vengeance The Red Talon calls upon the Mother herself to strike on his behalf. The terrain responds as best it can: Rocks roll and smash, vines constrict, and water sucks victims under. An avatar of Gaia herself teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and one Rage point, then rolls Charisma + Primal-urge (difficulty of the local Gauntlet). The exact effects depend on the terrain and are left to the Storyteller. Scabwalker Curse The Red Talon suffuses a target with a superabundance of Wyld energy, making them violently allergic to the Weaver-works of man. Any artificial material blisters and abrades the target's skin, concrete sidewalks and artificial carpet fibers shred her feet, polyester clothing causes her body to break out in weeping sores, and steel tools blister her hands. An avatar of Griffin teaches this Gift. System: The Red Talon spends a turn snarling at a target within 20 feet (6 m). The player then spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Survival (difficulty 7). The target takes one level of bashing damage per turn of physical contact with any non-natural material (crafted objects formed entirely of natural materials, such as wooden furniture held together with iron nails, are safe). This curse lasts for one day per success, and can easily prove fatal if invoked in the heart of a city. Rank 6 Shield of Gaia The Garou becomes so attuned to the laws and rhythms of Gaia that the Weaver's laws cease to have any hold on her. The werewolf becomes immune to the effects of one form of technology, such as bullets, photography (i.e. cannot be photographed), electricity, chemical toxins, etc. This Gift is taught by Griffin. System: The player must determine what this Gift grants immunity to at the time of purchase. Its effects are permanent.